IJAW YOUTHS, GROUP CLASH OVER JONATHAN’S REELECTION

Ijaw youths on Tuesday attacked a South-South group for advising President Goodluck Jonathan to shelve his re-election ambition in 2015.

Meanwhile  A group under the aegis of the Forum of Past Youth Leaders of Ethnic Nationalities in the South-South (FPYLENS) had reportedly asked Jonathan to abandon his ambition to return to Aso Rock in 2015.

The forum was said to have given the admonition in a statement signed by Alhaji Mumakai Unagha and Ekpo Okon.

But the forum’s position has drawn the ire of Jonathan’s kinsmen under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC).

The youths dismissed the forum saying the group and persons who signed “the provocative” statement were fictitious and unknown to major stakeholders of the region.

The youths in a statement signed by their Spokesman, Mr. Eric Omare, said the report was the handiwork of some inconsequential elements looking for recognition ahead of the 2015 general elections.

“There is no organisation known as Forum of Past Ethnic Nationalities Youth Leaders in the South-South and the signatories are unknown persons as far as youth leadership in the South-South region is concern”, he said.

He said after perusing the report, the leadership of the IYC consulted with its past leaders and presidents such as Dr. Felix Tuodolor, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, Mr. Jonjon Oyefia, Dr. Chris Ekiyor, Mr. Abiye, T. K. Ogoriba, and others to determine the veracity of the report.

He said all the prominent leaders in the region said they were not part of the said meeting and that there was no such gathering.

He reinstated the commitment of the South-South towards the reelection project of the President in 2015.

He said: “The IYC is in total support of the Jonathan administration and states that the Jonathan 2015 Presidency is a project of the South-South people and the youths of the South-South are irrevocably committed to this project.

“South-South youths are already mobilising towards the re-election of Dr. Jonathan in 2015 in synergy with other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria.

“The IYC call on members of the public to disregard the statement purported to have been made by the inconsequential Past South-South Youth Leaders Forum as they do not have the support to organise any anti-Jonathan campaign in any part of the South-South Region